“I wanted to cry because I was scared to be a mother when I was younger. I came from a household of abuse from my mother and grandmother and I was always afraid of having children because I didn’t know if it was something genetic that would be carried down to my children,” said Harless.

Harless had to overcome a difficult childhood in Arizona.

“I was homeless, looking for food, looking for help for my mom with her drug addiction, my grandmother with her alcohol. When my aunt and uncle adopted me and moved us to Canton, Ohio, I finally got to think long-term,” said Harless.

She went to Texas for college and decided to join the military.

She was injured in a training accident, given a medical discharge, and retired.